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Organized by the Ministry of Health and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute, the international emergency response simulation exercise is a practical emergency response simulation exercise in which more than 73 countries participate; It is being held at the Public Health Institute in Ethiopia for the next three days.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Mekdes Daba, who made the opening speech at the forum, said that Ethiopia's hosting of the forum is a demonstration of the government's firm commitment to building a health system that serves and protects all citizens. She said that MoH will work hard to strengthen the progress achieved in expanding access to health care, improving the quality of health services and increasing health outcomes across the country.
Our commitment to strengthen health services extends to the digitization of disease surveillance, said Dr. Mekdes, which will enable us to respond to public health emergencies more quickly and accurately. She explained that public health emergency response centres have been established at various levels in Ethiopia and this has made it possible to strengthen the national health security. In the year 2023 as stated in, Joint External Review, Ethiopia has made great progress in meeting the requirements of international health regulations, especially in emergency preparedness, early warning and response capacity; by building a National Public Health Genomic Laboratory and complete laboratories across the country has been able to build capacity to prevent epidemics.
The director general of the Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Dr. Mesay Hailu, said that the institute is committed to increasing public health, emergency management, public health research, evidence generation, and laboratory capacity. He also stated that the institute is playing a significant role in strengthening public health systems and ensuring preparedness and response to public health emergencies.
Dr. Michelle, director of the World health organization's health emergency response, said that the World Health Organization will help Ethiopia build its capacity to prevent and respond quickly to public health emergencies. He said that the simulation exercise will help create better international capacity by creating cooperation between countries.
The simulation will be held to strengthen the international response to international public health disasters and cross-border crises, and to share experience by simulating the challenges we face in public health every day, according to Dr. Dlamini, Deputy Country Representative of the World Health Organization for Ethiopia. The World Health Organization's mission is to promote health, protect global security, and serve the vulnerable.
He added that it will work to achieve this mission by leading and coordinating global health protection efforts, setting standards, providing technical assistance to countries and fostering partnerships.
On November 13 and 14, 2024, the global health emergency response simulation exercise hosted jointly by the World Health Organization and the EPHI will serve as a good opportunity to coordinate stakeholders in testing operational readiness, capacity and efficiency, according to the Deputy Director General of the Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Dr. Melkamu Abte said; He explained that it is planned to develop capacities to respond to health emergencies at the national, regional and international levels.
The international emergency response simulation exercise that started in the precincts of the Ethiopian Public Health Institute was visited by the participants.